Heritage Architecture Sydney
Burwood Civic Adaptive Reuse
Former Police Station and Courthouse
Originally designed by Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon
Adaptive Reuse of a Heritage-Listed Civic Building
This heritage architecture Sydney project is a proposed adaptive reuse of a heritage-listed former Police Station and Courthouse, originally designed in the late 1800s by Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon. The design responds to the existing building with restraint, working within its heritage fabric rather than against it. The project remains unbuilt in its current form and could be realised in the future.
The site has the benefit of three street frontages and is surrounded by high-density residential and commercial development. Within that setting, the proposal retains the heritage building and its landscape, giving the site an open and welcoming address to the street.
An Understated Design Response
Heritage Architecture Sydney
The Police Station and Courthouse occupy separate corners of the site, at different levels. Rather than a heavy intervention, the proposal introduces a lightweight, glazed pavilion — a recessive addition that connects the two buildings and resolves accessible movement between them. Landscaping follows the same restrained approach, supporting the heritage setting rather than competing with it.
We worked closely with heritage architects throughout the design process to ensure the proposal respected the significance of Walter Liberty Vernon’s original work. The Development Application received no objections.
A Diverse Commercial and Community Offering
The brief brings together a mix of uses within the one heritage architecture Sydney project: a cafe with an events and function capability for after-hours use, orthodontic treatment rooms, and a baby scan facility. Reception, waiting and treatment spaces take reference from the significant sandstone arched openings on the verandah, translated into vaulted ceiling forms that carry through the cafe and clinical spaces alike.
Cafe and Events Space
Within this heritage architecture Sydney project, the cafe is treated as its own quiet centrepiece — exposed brick facades and vaulted ceilings create a warm, textured space for daytime dining. After hours, the same space converts to an events venue for the medical industry, letting the architecture double as a setting for functions outside standard trading hours.
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